Recession? What Recession? Americans Say ‘We’re Doing Better Than Our Folks’ — Survey of the Day

While the county has been going through an extended period of economic decline and uncertainty, a solid majority of Americans still think that they are ahead of where their parents were financially.

According to new a Gallup poll of 1,012 adults, 69 percent believe they are better off financially than their parents were when they were the same age, whereas only 29 percent think they are worse off. This represents a slight decline from when Gallup asked the question in 1998 — at that time, 74 percent answered they were better off against 23 percent who reported being worse off.

The survey found that the older a person is the more likely he or she is to believe they’ve bested their parents’ financial situation, although even among the 18-to-29 age group 60 percent say they are better off then their folks.